CIRCUIT DES ARDENNES (France - 2.6, April 10th to 14th: Here are some details and results of the French stage-race which saw the USA Cycling-U.S. Postal Service Espoir National Team (Michael Creed, Walker Ferguson, Mark Fitzgerald, Patrick McCarty, Timmy Reinhart and Jon Retseck) in the spotlight (although the winner was a French rider)

PROLOGUE - Sedan 7,6 km. ITT - TOP 10 riders: Great performance by American rider Michael Creed of the USPS "espoirs" team, who lost by seven seconds only to French Noan Lelarge. Reinhart placed 37th, Fitzgerald was 41st, Retseck was 57th, McCarty and Ferguson took 67th and 72nd respectively.

Stage 1 - Rocroi-Rocroi, 165 km. - TOP 10 riders: The race ended with a six-man sprint, as the leading group (that hold off to the oncoming peloton, was the .. remaining part of a ten-strong bunch which got away after some two hours of riding. American Retseck took an honorable eight place.

Stage 4 - Rethel-Rethel, 160 km. - TOP 10 riders: France's Eric Leblacher of the "Crédit Agricole Espoirs" team took the final stage ahead of track specialist Wilfried Marget and Belarus' rider Aleksei Levdanski , whose UV Aube team was definitely among the big winners of the competition (2 stage wins in the two opening legs, and the final victory in the Teams Ranking). Another French rider, Nicolas Dumont of CC Etupes. beacme the Overall champion of the race, ahead of two foreign contenders, Chile's José Medina (AVC Aix-en-Provence) and Norway's Mads Kaggestad (Team Krone). Unfortunately the last stage was also marked by the abandon of USPS' Michael Creed, until then leader of the young riders ranking, so that this special classification was eventually won by another local competitor, Yannick Talabardon.

37th Cinturón Ciclista Internacional a Mallorca - 2.6: Detailed results of the International UCI-2.6 stage-race disputed last week in the Balearic Island of Mallorca, Spain, and reserved to Under 23 and Elite 2 riders, and featuring a massive English-speaking contingent of participants.